This guide is meant to illustrate the categories of embryonic development in Montipora capitata that we are characterizing in this study:
oocyte (unfertilized egg)
cleavage (3-4 hours post fertilization)
4-16 cell stage
32-64 cell stage
prawn chip (9 hours post fertilization)
early gastrula (14 hours post fertilization)
gastrula
Note that the phases in bold are the ones that we expect our embryos to be in based on hours post fertilization that they were preserved in 4% ZFIX. In this study, we conducted bundle-bundle crosses in 20mL of treatment solution (either a 0.22 micron filtered seawater control, or three increasing levels of PVC leachate derived from microplastics: 0.01 mg/L PVC leachate low, 0.1mg/L PVC leachate mid, or 1mg/L PVC leachate high).